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North Kitsap School District advised to wait to sell property

POULSBO — Now may not be the best time for North Kitsap School District administrators to put district property on the market.

According to appraisals done by Gary Lyman, a real estate appraiser for Richards & Associates, neither the district’s administration offices on Caldart Avenue or land near Island Lake would sell quickly. But if the district did sell either property, there could be a financial gain.

The district had the properties appraised to look at potential revenue. The North Kitsap School Board was expected to discuss the appraisals during the regular board meeting Aug. 22.

A nearly 30-acre parcel of land off Silverdale Way — known as the Island Lake property, or Esser property — could bring in an estimated $1 million. The low of the estimate is $600,000.

The district offices, which are on a 3.33-acre parcel, could net the district $860,000.

Though a sale could bring in more money to the district that’s grappled with a shrinking budget for years, Lyman said the administration property’s use is limited. Under the City of Poulsbo’s zoning code, the property cannot be used by a private enterprise. The most likely buyer, then, would be a government entity.

Because of the state of the economy and limited demand that is likely to exist for the property, the age and condition of the building, and its location, selling the property could “reasonably exceed a one-year time frame,” Lyman wrote in his appraisal.

Though the zoning for the property near Silverdale Way is under different zoning, it could be on the market even longer — two years might be expected. However, the Silverdale property is raw land and available for development purposes.

“But that market is pretty depressed right now,” Lyman said.

The property is zoned rural residential and is not in the urban growth area. A change in that zoning would require the county making a comprehensive plan revision, which would be a “long-term process,” Lyman said. The county recently did a zoning revision.

The district offices property was deeded to the school district in May 1996 from the U.S. government, through the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. The deed included a clause that stated the district was required to use the property for 20 years from the date of the deed. However, Lyman said that clause “expired.”

The Silverdale property, along with a small tract of land later sold to the county for a stormwater detention pond, was purchased January 1993 for $630,000. The small tract was sold for $48,500.

According to a story in the Herald’s archives, the Silverdale parcel was purchased for “a school that won’t be built until sometime after 1995, if ever.” The property was purchased concurrently with the district’s search for property in Kingston for an elementary school.

The Silverdale property borders the North Kitsap and Central Kitsap school districts. The majority of the money to purchase the property stemmed from a $27 million school bond approved in 1991.

“While developments like layoffs in Kitsap’s defense industry may alter them, [Assistant Superintendent Gerald] Brock says growth projections show the [North Kitsap School District] will need an elementary school at the Silverdale Way site sometime between 1995 and 1998,” according to the story in the Herald’s archives.

“If the area quits growing, Brock said the district will probably sell the land as surplus.”

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